"Happy Party"

Elizabeth turned two on Monday. When we went in to get her out of bed on Monday morning we all said, "Happy Birthday" and she immediately said "happy party" and continued saying it all day. We had a party with pizza and cake at supper time with balloons and home made decorations. She loved it...even if she was a little serious! She's so funny sometimes. She can go from being so serious to all giggles and smiles. We bought her a toboggan and had some fun coasting at a little hill behind our house that afternoon. The girls thought that was great. It was the first time they had ever tried something like that and I have a feeling we'll be doing it lots this winter.

(Contrary to what her cake might seem to indicate, our little girl did not just turn 121...I just thought the cake needed a couple more candles!)

As Elizabeth turns two here are some of her favourite things...

She has an obsession lately with "wateefies" (butterflies).

She cannot get enough of her Prayer Bear videos.

She loves to talk and show off all her new words.

She still loves to cuddle and is definitely still Mommy's girl (which worries Mommy with a new baby coming along soon).

And of course, her and Clara both adore Maddy Poppins (Mary Poppins).

Clara had swimming lessons this morning. She is absolutely loving it. Today she held her breath for two seconds while putting her face in the water...this is a BIG step for our cautious girl. She was so proud of herself. There are four other preschoolers in her class and they have a great instructor.

Clara was pretty impressed with the Valentine's Day party she had at AWANA this week. All the little Cubbies exchanged valentines, and she was so pleased to come home with a paper bag full of treats and cards from all her friends. There is quite a group of them...over a dozen 3 and 4 year olds I think. She has such a terrific time every Wednesday evening. Elizabeth and I usually drop Daddy off for Bible study, take Clara to AWANA and then we get some grocery shopping done before picking everybody up again and heading home. I feel like such a taxi sometimes.

I cannot believe that we have another birthday coming up in a few weeks...Clara will be 4 years old on March 10th. Where does the time go? She is growing up so fast. She loves to say her bedtime prayers now and it is so precious to me to hear her talk to God. When she says grace before we eat she thanks God for everything she can think of (usually forgetting about the food itself) and even remembers those "people who don't have enough food." What a girl.

This week has been extremely busy...lots of activities in the evenings at church and lots of trips to town. Tonight we have an Asian New Year potluck party at church. It will be a fun evening. Clara is looking forward to the "big party" and putting on a pretty dress.

I'm singing this Sunday evening at a fundraising concert called "Love Haiti" that is being organized by one of the retired pastors here in town. The Delta has donated a ballroom for us to use, and there's lots of great talent lined up. Should be a terrific evening. I have asked a friend to sing with me who I used to sing with lots years ago so it will be fun to do a few duets instead of it just being me and the piano. I think we only have to do about 3 songs or so and we're up fairly early in the evening which will work well if the girls are not cooperating and need to go home early.

Well, I'm sure there's lots of other news that's just not coming to mind at the moment. We are about 10 weeks away from our due date, and the reality of number three is starting to dawn upon us I think. We need to start transitioning Elizabeth into the same bedroom as Clara and dig out those newborn sleepers again. Can't wait to find out if it's a boy or girl. Send us some suggestions for names...we're having a horrible time again with boy names. I think we're pretty settled on our choice if it's a girl, but again the right boy name eludes us.

Happy Valentine's Day to you all. Hope your days are filled with the warmth of God's love in and around you!